She is pleased that Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has said he would expand health care coverage if elected.

Mr Kerry has proposed tax credits for businesses and individuals, health care for all children, and lower costs for prescription drugs.

"There is simply no excuse for hard-working Americans having to worry about whether they will be able to afford the treatment they need when they are sick," he has told supporters.

President Bush advocates bringing health care costs down by limiting the damages people can claim in medical malpractice lawsuits.

"All across the country, doctors are being litigated out of practice and American families are finding it more difficult to find health insurance," Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt told the Associated Press.

Mr Bush has also suggested allowing groups of small businesses to band together so they can buy health care plans at the lower rates offered to bigger companies.

No national health care

Unlike many Western nations, the US has no national health care system.

US ELECTION ROAD TRIP

Kevin Anderson and Richard Greene are travelling across the US to get to the heart of the issues in this year's election. They are sending back regular in-depth reports telling us what they find

"The difference between the US and western Europe is very clear - we never decided that every person should have health coverage," says Stuart Schear of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a charity that focuses on health care.

"There has been an effort dating back to the early 20th Century to make sure every American has health coverage, but it has never succeeded."

Employers became the primary source of health insurance during World War II. Wages were frozen, so employees negotiated for businesses to provide insurance as an alternative to pay rises.

The tax code now encourages employers to purchase health care for their employees.

But not all of the uninsured are out of work - the Alliance for Health Reform estimates than more than 80% of uninsured people are employed.

The percentage of employers providing health care has dropped from 65% to 61% in the past three years.

"Many working people are not offered benefits. Some employers say it is too expensive," Mr Schear says.

"Some workers are offered it but have to pay a share [of the costs] when they see a doctor or need medication, so not all who are offered it take it up, because they cannot afford it.